Well, they had to get the price down. And most of us have phone power bricks available.
Topping E30 DAC / Preamp
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MadMike
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Got mine a couple of months ago- using it with a Raspberry Pi to stream Qobuz Hi-Res and music library to AV receiver. Couldn't be happier with the performance of the E30.
bogi
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I bought E30 + L30 on audiophonics.fr + refurbrished Final E4000 IEM on ebay as a set for relaxed listening.
The result of few hours of laboring is perfect and I would like to share some of my E30 related findings.
1) Sound quality of E30 depends on power supply quality. Using USB power from computer may measure well but sounds worse than using power from better quality source. I am using cheap Stontronics 5V 1A LPS which can be found on ebay.
2) As usual, DAC is sensible to quality of USB cable. I simply tested bunch of old noname cables I found at home and to my surprise I found one which performs well.
3) Added iFi iSilencer between computer USB port and USB cable helped to remove some nervousness or harshness in the sound. iSilencer uses Active Noise Cancelling technique to eliminate influence of computer generated noise to connected USB device.
4) As usual, RCA cables have also some level of influence to resulting sound quality. I chose one I made some years ago from 14 AWG coax cable (silver plated copper, teflon insulation), few meters of which I bought some years ago on ebay.
5) When the auto on/off feature is disabled, after initial handshake between computer and DAC the +5V wire is no more needed for audio playback. I could not distinguish any sound impact after disconnecting the +5V wire. So my result is that I could not find any sound degradation caused by computer power on data USB cable. It seems teh USB port si not used to power the device and the +5V power line of data USB cable is used only for initial USB protocol handshake (yet before playback starts) and also for the auto on/off feature.
6) Final E4000 IEM is good pair with E30 + L30 for enjoyable relaxed listening. No peaky distorted trebles, nice mids and solid bass. Overall clean sound across the frequency spectrum. I was listening on middle gain and on middle positions of L30 volume control.
7) The E30 manual does not mention how to switch between DAC mode and preamp mode. Press the E30 button for more seconds. If auto on/off is disabled (AC mode), make a long button touch when E30 is turned off to switch between device modes.
8) I found DSD source format playback as better sounding option for E30 than PCM. I am using HQPlayer to upsample all music content to DSD regardless on source format/sample rate.
All my sound impressions are subjective.
The result of few hours of laboring is perfect and I would like to share some of my E30 related findings.
1) Sound quality of E30 depends on power supply quality. Using USB power from computer may measure well but sounds worse than using power from better quality source. I am using cheap Stontronics 5V 1A LPS which can be found on ebay.
2) As usual, DAC is sensible to quality of USB cable. I simply tested bunch of old noname cables I found at home and to my surprise I found one which performs well.
3) Added iFi iSilencer between computer USB port and USB cable helped to remove some nervousness or harshness in the sound. iSilencer uses Active Noise Cancelling technique to eliminate influence of computer generated noise to connected USB device.
4) As usual, RCA cables have also some level of influence to resulting sound quality. I chose one I made some years ago from 14 AWG coax cable (silver plated copper, teflon insulation), few meters of which I bought some years ago on ebay.
5) When the auto on/off feature is disabled, after initial handshake between computer and DAC the +5V wire is no more needed for audio playback. I could not distinguish any sound impact after disconnecting the +5V wire. So my result is that I could not find any sound degradation caused by computer power on data USB cable. It seems teh USB port si not used to power the device and the +5V power line of data USB cable is used only for initial USB protocol handshake (yet before playback starts) and also for the auto on/off feature.
6) Final E4000 IEM is good pair with E30 + L30 for enjoyable relaxed listening. No peaky distorted trebles, nice mids and solid bass. Overall clean sound across the frequency spectrum. I was listening on middle gain and on middle positions of L30 volume control.
7) The E30 manual does not mention how to switch between DAC mode and preamp mode. Press the E30 button for more seconds. If auto on/off is disabled (AC mode), make a long button touch when E30 is turned off to switch between device modes.
8) I found DSD source format playback as better sounding option for E30 than PCM. I am using HQPlayer to upsample all music content to DSD regardless on source format/sample rate.
All my sound impressions are subjective.
rick88
100+ Head-Fier
I ordered an E30 and it arrived today. I'm having an issue that has me baffled and hope someone that owns one can help with.
I cannot get the display to read 96kHz when playing discs encoded with 96/24 PCM, it only displays 48kHz. I have tried 4 different discs through 2 different players that both support up to 196kHz/24 bit audio through their digital outputs, a Sony UBP-X800 universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray player and a Cambridge Audio 752BD universal Blu-Ray player. I have tried both optical & coaxial outs of the Cambridge and the coaxial out of the Sony. Both players are set to output PCM through their digital outs.
Can anyone that owns the E30 with a Blu-Ray player hooked up to it confirm whether theirs is displaying 96 kHz with a compatible disc?
Thanks in advance!
I cannot get the display to read 96kHz when playing discs encoded with 96/24 PCM, it only displays 48kHz. I have tried 4 different discs through 2 different players that both support up to 196kHz/24 bit audio through their digital outputs, a Sony UBP-X800 universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray player and a Cambridge Audio 752BD universal Blu-Ray player. I have tried both optical & coaxial outs of the Cambridge and the coaxial out of the Sony. Both players are set to output PCM through their digital outs.
Can anyone that owns the E30 with a Blu-Ray player hooked up to it confirm whether theirs is displaying 96 kHz with a compatible disc?
Thanks in advance!
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rick88
100+ Head-Fier
Just to show it's not user error, here are a few pics. The first one shows the Sony UBP-X800 is setup to output PCM up to 96kHz through its digital out, second one is from hitting display on the remote while a disc is playing to confirm it is indeed outputting 96/24 audio, and the third is the display of the E30.
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bogi
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I know that the highest resolution (master audio) can be output from blu-ray players only through HDMI. That's some license thing. That could be your case.
See for example
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/hi-res-stereo-hdmi-dig-coax-optical—a-question-of-cables.3041382/
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/blu-ray-coaxial-outputs-limited-rez-to-dacs
In 2020, it's time to rip all your physical media to PC and to play without restrictions what you want from PC.
You can use smartphone or tablet as remote to control the player running on your PC.
Sell your blu-ray players till someone wants to buy them ... You can buy nice quiet fanless PC in the price of your players and it will provide you much more functionality and flexibility.
See for example
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/hi-res-stereo-hdmi-dig-coax-optical—a-question-of-cables.3041382/
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/blu-ray-coaxial-outputs-limited-rez-to-dacs
In 2020, it's time to rip all your physical media to PC and to play without restrictions what you want from PC.
You can use smartphone or tablet as remote to control the player running on your PC.
Sell your blu-ray players till someone wants to buy them ... You can buy nice quiet fanless PC in the price of your players and it will provide you much more functionality and flexibility.
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KDS315
100+ Head-Fier
Well, I have to correct myself, I kept it, runs with a non hum medical power supply now (rel. cheap. just EUR30) flawlessly; setting the input
to -6db on the sending side turned out to be ano brainer...
Quite happy with it, also using it with my BLUESOUND Node 2i streamer (COAX), feeding various aplifiers to my STAX and other headphones.
c4sK
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Got my E30/L30 stack today and I'm not sure if my dac is acting up or not. I have installed the latest driver ( V4.86.0 ). Only once have I seen the sample rate show and that was only for a second or so. Is this working correctly or should it show the sample rate constantly during playback?
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It should be set that Dac works in DAC mode and not in Pre mode.
c4sK
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Hey guys I've been thinking of purchasing the TOPPING A50s +E30. Anybody using the same? Do they pair well?
tmb821
100+ Head-Fier
BattuUBelin
New Head-Fier
Hi, just arrived the my E30, it is in bunr-in now but I have some first impression: overall good but I was expecting more soundstage from the other review... it improve in time?
Maybe your ears will improve over time.
KDS315
100+ Head-Fier
Still very happy with my E30 +L30 combo (plus medical low noise power supplies). Even if I connect the E30 to my STAX SRM-T1(CCS/ECC99) mod tube amplifier and SR-L700 Mk II STAX headphones it sound superb...
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